It’s Not All Negative: How Bad Customer Reviews Create Revenue Opportunities
Consumers are increasingly skeptical. Name brands can no longer assume customer loyalty based on reputation alone. Today’s consumer doesn’t hesitate to study the reviews and experiences of others to determine the highest quality products at the best price — brand name or not. While some popular review sites (think Amazon.com) are no longer assumed to be trustworthy or authentic, online consumer opinions about a brand cannot be taken lightly. That’s great if your brand receives nothing but kudos and five-star reviews, but what should be done about the not-so-great to downright negative customer reviews?
Negative Reviews Can Be a Good Thing
Although negative reviews can raise a red flag for consumers, they also present a unique opportunity. When customers feel they’ve been wronged they want to be heard and understood. “Negative” reviews are an opportunity to listen and respond.
In its 2023 CX trends report, Chatmeter shared data that 28 percent of consumers want to read negative reviews. In fact, 32 percent wouldn’t consider purchasing without seeing any negative reviews, indicating that negative feedback can create a sense of brand authenticity. This is especially true when consumers see brands responding to poor reviews and engaging with the customer to resolve his/her issue(s) in a meaningful way.
Seventy-three percent of consumers say customer experience is as critical as price and product quality in purchasing decisions. Consumers crave genuine interactions with the businesses they patronize. They want their feedback acknowledged and respected.
So, how does a brand turn a negative review into a good thing?
- Respond quickly and professionally. According to the Conversation Index, seven out of 10 customers changed their comments about a brand after the company responded to their review.
- Keep it short and sweet. There's no need to do more than acknowledge the problem and then offer to resolve it offline.
- Connect with the customer offline. Acknowledge the problem at hand and apologize for their negative experience. Let the customer know you’d like to learn more about the situation to prevent similar experiences in the future.
- Avoid arguing with the customer or trying to change their mind. Instead, focus on what you can do to improve the customer experience and work to rectify the problem they experienced.
With the right technology, negative reviews add up to a goldmine of brand intelligence
There’s nothing negative about positive reviews. No question — it’s essential that your brand knows what’s going well, who its highly rated employees are, and which locations are killing it.
But some of the best gems of game-changing customer insights are lying in plain sight — IF you have the technology to extract them.
That’s where multi-location reputation management platforms powered by artificial intelligence come into play. Solutions integrating AI and natural language processing (NLP) have transformed the way businesses collect and analyze consumer sentiment data.
These platforms:
- Harness the power of AI-driven analytics and insights, from global customer sentiment to location-specific metrics to valuable trends hiding within your unstructured data.
- Improve workflows, save time, and reply to every review while ensuring consistent, authentic, on-brand AI-generated responses.
- Provide the deep listening and brand intelligence you need to make the best possible decisions and give your brand a competitive edge.
Celebrate all the positive customer feedback and high-star reviews but don’t underestimate the power of less-than-stellar comments to unlock powerful insights to support your brand strategy and deliver CX excellence throughout the online customer journey.
Cynthia Sener, MBA, is president, go-to-market, at Chatmeter, the only reputation management and brand intelligence company to combine AI-powered deep listening with real-time CX agility.
